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Kumar, Deepa
BioDeepa Kumar is an award-winning scholar and activist. She is the author of more than 80 publications including books, journal articles, book chapters, and articles in independent and mainstream media. She a leading scholar on Islamophobia and her book Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire has been translated into five languages. In the second and fully revised edition, the book has been brought up to the Trump presidency. She teaches "Mediating the Middle East" at the undergraduate level and "Race, Culture and Empire" at the Ph.D. level.
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Russell Jones, Sandy
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
Director of Middle East Studies Program (Fall 2011 – CURRENT) Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Rutgers University
Assistant Teaching Professor (Fall 2014 – CURRENT) History Department, Rutgers University
Assistant Teaching Professor (Fall 2014 – CURRENT) Religion Department, Rutgers University
Lecturer (Fall 2010 – Spring 2014) History Department, Rutgers University
Lecturer (Fall 2008; Spring 2012 – Spring 2014) Religion Department, Rutgers University
Fellow, Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis (2010 – 2011) History Department, Rutgers University
Grader, Middle East Studies Seminar (Spring 2009) Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Rutgers University
Lecturer (Spring 2003) University of Pennsylvania
Adjunct Faculty (Fall 2002) East Stroudsburg University
Teaching Assistant and Writing Adviser (Fall 1999 – Spring 2001) University of Pennsylvania
EDUCATION
Ph.D. (August 2010), University of Pennsylvania, Religious Studies B.A. (1993), Dickinson College, Religious Studies Arabic Language (2001-2002), Center for Arabic Study Abroad in Cairo, Egypt Arabic Language (1999), Summer Intensive Arabic at Middlebury College Semester Abroad Program (1996), School for International Training, MoroccoLANGUAGES
Arabic – advanced/intermediate (reading, writing, speaking) French – reading German - readingAWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS
Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis Fellowship (2010-2011), New Brunswick, NJ Fulbright IIE Program for U.S. Students Dissertation Research Grant (2004-2005), Bahrain Fulbright-Hays Fellowship for Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (2004-2005), Bahrain (declined) American Research Center in Egypt Dissertation Research Grant (2004-2005), Egypt University of Pennsylvania Religious Studies Pre-dissertation Grant (2003), Bahrain Center for Arabic Study Abroad Full-Year Fellowship (2001-2002), Egypt University of Pennsylvania Religious Studies Boardman Fellowship (2000)PUBLICATIONS
"Bahrain:Origins of a Crisis," Jadaliyya, http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/1209/essential-readings_bahrain_origins-of-a-crisis, April 10, 2011. “God’s law or state’s law? Authority and Islamic family law reform in Bahrain,” dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2010. “The Battle Over Family Law in Bahrain,” Middle East Report, No. 242, Spring 2007. Review of Amira El-Azhary Sonbol, Women of Jordan: Islam, Labor, and the Law in International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 36, no. 3, August 2004.PAPERS PRESENTED
“’A Diagnostic of Power:’ Strategies of Muslim women activists in advocating Islamic family law reform in Bahrain, 1982 – 2008,” Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis, April 12, 2011. “Women and Family Law Reform in Bahrain: Re-shaping Shari`a and the Islamic State,” Religious Studies Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, September 17, 2009. “Shi`i `Ulama’ in Bahrain: The Family Law Debate as an Arena for Redefining Religious Authority,” Annual Meeting, American Academy of Religion, November 3, 2008. “Shi`i `Ulama’ in Bahrain: The Family Law Reform Debate as an Arena for Redefining Religious Authority,” Middle East Studies Graduate Student Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, October 20, 2008. “Is Islam’s Response to Suffering Gendered? A Reply to Susan Sered,” Mid-Atlantic American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, March 15, 2001. “Testing Bell: An Application of Catherine Bell’s Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice to the Sufi ritual Sama’,” Religious Studies Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, December 8, 1999.COURSES TAUGHT
Islamic Civilization, Rutgers University Women and Society in the Islamic Middle East, Rutgers University Islam, Global Civilization, Rutgers University Introduction to Islam, Rutgers University and University of Pennsylvania Introduction to World Religions, East Stroudsburg University, PACOURSES ASSISTED
Middle East Studies Seminar, Rutgers University Religion and the Search for Meaning, University of Pennsylvania Religions of the West, University of Pennsylvania Religions of the East, University of PennsylvaniaRESEARCH AND EXPERIENCE ABROAD
BAHRAIN (2005-2006) Dissertation Research: Between Allah and Man, Sunni and Shi`a: Bahraini Women and Shari`a Court Reform EGYPT (2004-2005) Preliminary Dissertation Research: Personal Status Law Reform and Egyptian Women Activists. BAHRAIN(2003) Preliminary Dissertation Research: Between Allah and Man, Sunni and Shi`a: Bahraini Women and Shari`a Court Reform. MOROCCO (1996) Independent Study Project: Adam’s Rib in Cultural Perspective: Comparative Cosmogonies and the Ontology of Women in the Qur’an and Genesis. ISRAEL (1991) Lived and worked as a field hand on Kibbutz Ga`aton, Nahariyya.PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Academy of Religion Association of Middle Eastern Women’s Studies Fulbright Association Middle East Studies Association -
Jones, Toby C.
Education Ph.D., Stanford University, 2006 M.A., Auburn University, 1998 B.A., Auburn University, 1994 BioToby C. Jones is associate professor of history at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. He teaches courses on global environmental history, energy, and the modern Middle East. During 2008-2009 he was a fellow at Princeton University's Oil, Energy, and the Middle East project. From 2004 to early 2006 Jones worked as the Persian Gulf political analyst for the International Crisis Group. His research interests focus on the environment, energy, and the history of science and technology. He is the author of Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia (Harvard University Press, 2010), Running Dry: Essays on Energy, Water and Environmental Crisis (Rutgers University Press, 2015), and is currently working America's Oil Wars (under contract at Harvard University Press). He has written for the International Journal of Middle East Studies, Journal of American History, Middle East Report, Raritan Quarterly Review, The Nation, The Atlantic, the London Review of Books, the New York Times, and elsewhere. In 2015 Jones was recognized as a Rutgers Chancellor’s Scholar for distinguished scholarship.
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Abdeljaber, Hamid
Bio:Hamid Abdeljaber joined the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) at Rutgers University as a lecturer on January 1st, 2007. He is currently teaching courses for CMES and the Political Science Department on Arab Media, Islam and Democracy, Contemporary Politics of the Middle East, Modern Arab Society, United Nations and the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. He is also a senior Consultant and Media Trainer at the Center for Development Communication (CDC), a Washington-based media training and developmental Center.
Prior to Rutgers University, Abdeljaber had been working for the United Nations (UN) for over 25 years. He was granted separation on October 1, 2006.
During his tenure with the United Nations, Abdeljaber worked in the Department of Public Information; he served as Chief of Middle East Radio Unit and News Center, as well as Liaison Officer with Arab Media. He also administered as a Press Officer, News Analyst, News Distribution Officer, Political Affairs Officer at the Office for Research and Collection of Information, Information Officer at the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Spokesman for the UN Mission in Western Sahara, UN Spokesman in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and a Spokesman for the late Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was killed in Baghdad on August 19, 2009 together with 21 colleagues.
During his years of service with the UN, Mr. Abdeljaber carried out different missions and assignments in former Czechoslovakia, Italy, Switzerland, Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Eritrea, South Africa, Botswana, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory and many others places.
Abdeljaber has been giving lectures and briefings on the United Nations, Middle East, Arab World, Islam, Conflict resolutions and Arab Media at the UN Headquarters and at university campuses across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe. He is a board member of Bentley College Model United Nations and an annual speaker at Old Dominion University Model United Nations.
He also participated in numerous academic conferences and presented several papers in his capacity as a researcher. His research papers covered the conflict in Western Sahara, conflict in Iraq, Palestinian civil society, Humanitarian intervention, terrorism and the dilemma of definition, Islamophobia, UN and the new global challenges and many others. Some of the papers were published.
Mr. Abdeljaber is also a columnist; he frequently publishes a weekly article in major Arabic newspapers distributed in London, Tunisia and Jordan.
Abdeljaber has appeared in many Arab and non-Arab radio and satellite stations including Al-Jazeera, Abu Dhabi, Al-Arabiya, Kuwait TV, Bahrain TV, BBC, KSA2 Saudi TV, Sky News and others.
He obtained his B.A. in Arabic Language and Literature from the University of Jordan and his M.A. in International Relations from New York University (NYU). In 2007, he finished all the requirements for his PhD studies in International Relations at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) and is currently writing his thesis on Western Sahara conflict.
Contact:
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Aftab, Atiya, Esq.
Bio:Atiya Aftab, Esq. currently maintains her own practice providing representation to non-profit corporations. Atiya is also an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University, Department of Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies Program and teaches “Islamic Law and Jurisprudence”. She is also the Chair of the Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University, convener of the first full-time Muslim Chaplaincy on campus. She is a member of the Rutgers University Board of Overseers that governs the Rutgers University Foundation.
Atiya is the co-founder and chair emeritus of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, an international women’s interfaith organization. She has been a member of the Islamic Society of Central Jersey’s (ISCJ) Board of Trustees and Overseers for 20 years and was the first woman chair of the board. She co-found the New Jersey Muslim Lawyer’s Association and has been its Vice-President and Treasurer. She was an active member and chair of the Islamic Society of North America’s Masjid Development Committee and is also a co-founder of the Shia Sunni Alliance of NJ. Atiya is a Fellow with the Arianne de Rothschild Fellowship and completed a certificate program with KARAMAH, Muslim women’s human rights organization.
Atiya was a member of Attorney General Peter Harvey’s Arab and Muslim Advisory Committee (Chair, Education and Training for Law Enforcement Subcommittee) and was a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Minority Concerns for 10 years. She was also chair of the South Brunswick Women’s Commission and was responsible for organizing its yearly leadership conference for 10 years.
Atiya received her Bachelor of Arts Degree, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1988, majoring in Political Science (Pi Sigma Alpha) from Rutgers College. She went on to Rutgers Law School in Newark and graduated with her Juris Doctorate Degree in 1991. After law school, she held an Appellate Division Clerkship with the Hon. James H. Coleman, Jr., then Presiding Judge Appellate Division and now retired Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Atiya then joined Robinson, St. John & Wayne as an associate. She went on to represent the Department of Banking and Insurance as a Deputy Attorney General.
Atiya has spoken at numerous forums on topics related to Islam including academic institutions, conferences, police training centers, places of worship, universities, hospital, community forums conventions and newsprint, social media and television and radio addresses.
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Golden, Peter
Research and Teaching InterestsThe history of medieval Eurasia and the interaction of the Turko-Mongolian steppe peoples with the neighboring sedentary states (Rus', Byzantium, the Caucasus, and the Islamic world). Ethnogenesis. Turkic philology.
Previously Taught ClassesUndergraduate
Ottoman Empire(01:685:301)
Topics in Middle Eastern Studies: History of Central Asia(01:685:391)
Selected Publications
Central Asia in World History (New York-Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).
Early Turks and Khazars: Origins, Institutions and Interactions in Variorum Collected Studies Series (Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate Publishing, 2010.)
The Cambridge History of Inner Asia: The Chinggisid Age, co-edited with N. Di Cosmo ad A.J. Frank (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009)
Nomads and Their Neighbours in the Russian Steppe. Turks, Khazars and Qipchaqs in Variorum Collected Studies Series (Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate Publishing, 2003).
Türk Halklari Tarihine Giris, (Turk. Trans.by O. Karatay (Ankara: KaraM, 2002), a Turkish translation of my An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1992).
The King's Dictionary. The Rasûlid Hexaglot: Fourteenth Century Vocabularies in Arabic, Persian, Turkic, Greek, Armenian and Mongolian, edited with an Introduction and Commentary by Peter B. Golden, translated by T. Halasi-Kun, P.B. Golden, L. Ligeti, Ö. Schütz,with essays by P.B. Golden and Th. T. Allsen (Leiden: Brill, 2000).
Honors, Awards, and Professional Service
Member of the Institute For Advanced Study (Princeton), 2005-2006.
Provost’s Award for Distinguished Scholarship, Rutgers-Newark, 2005
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2001.
Rutgers University Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Research, 1994.
Honorary Member, Türk Dil Kurumu (Turkish Language Society), elected 1989.
Honorary Member, Csoma de Kőrös Society of Hungarian Orientalists, elected, 2009
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Mikdashi, Maya
Education Ph.D. Department of Anthropology, Columbia University MPhil. in Anthropology, Columbia University M.A. in Arab Studies, Georgetown University B.A. in Communication Arts, Lebanese American University Research InterestsIntroduction to Middle East Studies, Minorities in the Middle East, Comparative Settler Colonialism, Feminist Methodologies, and the Social Justice Capstone.
BioMaya Mikdashi is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies and a lecturer in the program in Middle East Studies at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Maya is an anthropologist (PhD Columbia University, 2014) who is deeply engaged in ethnographic, legal, and archival theory and methodology. She currently is completing a book manuscript that examines the war on terror, sexual difference, secularism, and state power in the contemporary Middle East from the vantage point of Lebanon.
Maya has been a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow from 2014-2016 at Rutgers University, and a Faculty Fellow/Director of Graduate Studies, Center for Near Eastern Studies, New York University (2012-2014). She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, in addition to online platforms. She is a co-founding editor of the e-zine Jadaliyya.com.Maya is also a filmmaker and writer, she is co-director of the feature length documentary film About Baghdad (2004), co- founding member of filmmaking cooperative Quilting Point Productions, and director of Notes on The War (2006). Most recently Maya co-conceptualized, co-wrote (with director Carlos Motta), and performed in a historical fantasy film set in 19th century Beirut and Bogota, Deseos/رغبات", which is currently playing in international film and art festivals.
Affiliated Faculty Profile
Affiliated Faculty Profiles
